Someone Learned the Language

They say the fastest way to learn a language is to be surrounded and immersed by it. I can honestly say that is absolutely true for one member of our household. Remus, our 5-month old German Sheppard puppy seems to only understand Chichewa commands. It seems that Remus has decided to stay in touch with his African roots by choosing Chichewa over the English that his Azungu owners try to speak to him in. 

I’m not exactly sure how our puppy came to learn Chichewa. The woman that works with us loves playing with him and she talks to him in Chichewa, as do our students when they play with him, but a majority of the time he hears English. 

It was only after I was frustrated in his lack of response that the idea of trying commands in a different language even occurred to me. Luckily I know the Chichewa word for come here, so I decided to try it out on him. Much to my surprise his giant ears perked right up after I said “Iwe tabwela” (hey you come here) and he came trotting right over to me. My jaw just about hit the ground. 

I now am feeling an even larger desire to learn the native language here, not only to communicate with the people around me, but also with my puppy.  I also can’t allow a puppy to have better Chichewa than myself. I would write more, but I have to go look up the Chichewa phrase for roll over. Wish me luck, and pray that my Chichewa is better than Remus’s soon.